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Edward Wormold
Edward Wormold and his brother Alfred were landlords and letting agents who either owned, or let on behalf of others, a large number of the houses in Coronation Street and other parts of Weatherfield from the 1950s to the 1980s. Edward, like his brother, was not popular with the residents of the street but they held the power of controlling the roof over people's heads for many years, willing to turn to eviction for non-payment and only losing their grasp as people got richer from the 1960s onwards and were able to buy their properties outright and as the council conducted slum clearances of the borough, taking the brothers' portfolio away from them with Compulsory Purchase orders. Alfred conducted the majority of the business with the Coronation Street residents but when he was in Majorca in January 1965 it was Edward who summoned Ena Sharples. The owner of 11 Coronation Street was a Mrs Briggs who died in November 1964. Many years before she had moved out to the posh Ellesmere Park part of Weatherfield, she had been a regular attendee at the Glad Tidings Mission Hall and much admired Ena's playing of the harmonium, so much so that she left her No.11 in her will. Wormold offered to buy the house from Ena for £350, stating that it was the market price and she would be saved the unpleasantness of being a landlord. Ena refused though - Elsie Tanner was the tenant and Ena enjoyed the prospect of lording it over her. Not knowing what had happened, Elsie visited Wormold a couple of days later asking for repairs to her home and was shocked to be introduced by Wormold to her new landlady. Ena was soon told that she faced the prospect of being evicted from the Vestry as the mission committee were considering closing the Glad Tidings hall in favour of the Bold Street Mission and she, in turn, tried to evict Elsie. Following a huge fight between the two women in the street that threatened to turn violent, Ena decided she didn't want the hassle of owning the house and took up Wormold's offer. In the September of the same year, Wormold rushed to the street when the entire frontage of No.7 collapsed. There were fears that Lucille Hewitt was under the rubble and Wormold helped the police and residents clear it out but the missing girl turned up safe though late from seeing a friend. A council Surveyor looked over the house and declared that the collapse was caused by minor faulty foundations and, in the main, another fault in the main beam over the bay window. The Surveyor accompanied Wormold to the Builder's Yard where he made sure that Len Fairclough could get hold of steel props and timber needles immediately needed to accomplish the task and made it quite clear that as the houses were not council property, Wormold would be footing the bill! Len's estimate for repairs came to almost £300 and Wormold made the decision to have the entire house pulled down instead. Wormold died in 1981 and the residents were offered the chance to buy their ground rents for £48. Len took the opportunity to buy the vacant space where No.7 used to stand and began to build a new house on the spot. :Various references were made to "Mr Wormold" over the years without explicitly stating which of the two brothers were meant. As Alfred Wormold was the first to appear, this article assumes that all references outside of 1965 were to him. It is possible that the character of Edward Wormold was created as Ivor Dean was unavailable to reprise the part of Alfred in that year. Edward Wormold's death was referred to in Episode 2154 (23rd November 1981), when his name appears on the solicitor's letter received by Elsie Tanner offering her the chance to buy the ground rent. :Actor Robert Dorning went on to be a series regular in ''Pardon the Expression and Turn out the Lights as Wally Hunt. List of appearances 1965 *Mon 4th Jan *Wed 6th Jan *Wed 1st Sep Category:Coronation Street characters Category:1965 minor characters Category:Businesspeople Category:1981 deaths